Legion of Super-Heroes #285

Legion of Super-Heroes #285 (1982)
“Night Never Falls at Nullport” by Paul Levitz & Pat Broderick
“The Forgotten Future” by Paul Levitz & Keith Giffen

Back to the book having multiple separate stories. Last time this was the norm the series really struggled; will Levitz manage it well?

This is the first appearance of Nullport, the United Planets drydock that will get a few mentions here and there.

Not exactly a safe place, considering the Legion already has to help avoid a disaster.

Star Boy’s joke is on point: the ships ARE crashed on purpose here, as Shrinking Violet discovers by picking up a command signal.

We now cut to the part of the story that will have the most significance, because it involves Orando.
And apparently the galaxy doesn’t have a great opinion on Projectra’s home world.

Projectra is here because it’s been ages since Karate Kid completed the quest required to marry her.

But then the kind recalls the Karate Kid series and has a stroke.
True story*, the same thing happened to me when I reviewed that series.

(*not a true story)

With that cliffhanger, we move back to the main Legion story with them addressing the Nullport disaster with its director H’Hrnath… who has the best alien design since the John Forte era.

Seriously, he’s the best: a centaur complete with a horse’s head, but with human hands AND four random tentacles out of his torso!
When there’s yet another crash, though, Shrinking Violet has had enough of him.

 

Even Brainiac 5 is puzzled about who could possibly be behind all these accidents.

And it’s TIMBER WOLF, of all people, to figure it out!!!

This is so unexpected that Brainiac 5 almost breaks the fourth wall. A bit forced perhaps, but I thought it was funny.

And of course Timber Wolf is right: Shrinking Violet finds Khund technology sabotaging Nullport’s main computer.

I love H’Hrnath. A pity the Legion doesn’t interact more with him later on.

So the Legionnaires find the nearest Khund ships, and the battle goes about as you’d expect.

Of course there’s no point in just taking out this ship if the Khunds can just send more, so the solution is to move the entire spaceport!!!

Seriously, more H’Hrnath scenes, please!

And so the port is saved, the Legion gets a discount on the new cruisers, and happy endings for everyone!

Well… almost everyone: Projectra’s father is dead.

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Moving on to the second story, centered around Dream Girl and the fact that the people of her planet have inexplicably lost the ability to see the future.

Naltor is a truly fascinating planet that I wish we saw more often. The idea of a society where precognition is common is just fantastic, and Levitz gets to explore a little bit how that impacts everyday life.

Also they call people without precognitive powers “the short-sighted”, which is great.

It’s also a chance to showcase Dream Girl’s abilities, since her usefulness to the Legion has been put into question many times, both in-universe and by readers.

Case in point, she stops some robbers by using her Legion ring to levitate stuff by attaching it to some debris.

Despite her bravado, she understandably feels very vulnerable in this situation.

She gets a clue about the cause of the situation by reading the news.

A rare acknowledgment of the fact that Dream Girl is also a scientific genius. It tends to be lost between her flirtatious persona and having Brainiac 5 in the same team.

So why did the Naltorians lose their powers? Because of an anti-earthquake machine, of course. (WTF!?)

Sounds legit.

Dream Girl is less interested in the scientific ramifications than in being horny.

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Legion significance
First story: 4/10
Sadly H’Hrnath doesn’t become a regular guest star. Obviously the death of Projectra’s father has enormous consequences… but it’s literally one panel and it’s not explored until next issue, so that doesn’t count all that much.
Dream Girl: 0/10
Considering it introduces a way to completely nullify Dream Girl’s powers, it’s quite surprising it’s not brought up again.

Silver Age-ness
First story: 0/10
Not really.
Dream Girl: 6/10
So earthquakes and dreams work on the same frequency, or what?

Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
Not a masterpiece by any means, but you can basically reprint both stories and nothing would need to be changed today. Levitz is already juggling a lot of subplots here, so there is a risk of overwhelming the reader, but so far he’s managing a good balance.

We are legion
23 active Legionnaires
4 reserve members
1 honorary member (Rond Vidar)
1 on sick leave (Matter-Eater Lad)

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Interesting letters: ladies and gentlemen, THE best summary of the Reflecto storyline. There’s absolutely no contest.
I salute you, The Ramblin’ Jersey, if that’s your real name.